way prescribed by their church. In the eyes of
a true Roman Catholic, these people are therefore living in a state of
complete reprobation, and are destined to perdition. And yet, how can a
human being throw himself at the feet of a man whom he despises? How can
he ask absolution of a man who he knows requires it more, perhaps, than
himself? And, above all, how can he confide the consciences and souls of
his daughters to a man who carries seduction in his eyes and pollution on
his lips?

The act of confession is practised after the following manner:--First of
all, the penitent makes, whilst alone, a private examination of the heart
and conscience, according to the instructions of books written with this
special object in view, some of which have justly merited the censures
passed upon them by the English press, in citing them by way of argument
against Parliamentary grants in favour of the college of Maynooth. The
hour of confession arrived, the penitent kneels before the priest, who is
seated in a kind of sentry-box, called the confessional, open in front,
and having the two sides of trellis-work, by which the priest is
separated from actual contact with the woman who comes to confess. This
confessional is placed in the church. Those who have visited the
churches and cathedrals on the continent of Europe may have seen several
of them in almost every one of these. Thus the confession may be said to
be made in public, for the rite is most frequently performed when there
is a crowd assembled, so that persons nearest to the confessional can
often distinctly hear much of what passes between the confessor and his
penitent. Now, only consider the situation of a woman observed, at
least, by so many witnesses, who, even though they do not hear her words,
can, by the alteration of her features and visage, understand what
emotions of mind she is enduring whilst undergoing the painful process.

The parties thus placed, the ceremony then begins with an act of
contrition, which the penitent pronounces.

Then follows the self-accusation of sins, in the order of the ten
commandments, or the Decalogue, and the other five of the Roman Catholic
Church. The priest frequently interrupts this self-accusation with
leading questions concerning the most minute particulars of the act which
is the subject of accusation. For example, suppose the accusation to be
this: "I accuse myself, holy father, of having uttered a falsehood." The